My father and I have loved that line since seeing Extreme Prejudice
together nearly 19 and a half years ago, and it again came to mind while
sitting through the remake of All the
King's Men, a timeless story of absolute power corrupting
absolutely that promises to make viewers even more cynical about
politics.

Based on Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, All the King's Men was adapted into
a movie in 1949 that went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Broderick Crawford won the 1949 Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal in the film
of a Huey Long-style politician, and the film's Mercedes McCambridge
took home the 1949 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Writer-director Steven Zaillian (Searching for Bobby Fischer, A Civil Action) does a
more than competent job of re-adapting Warren's novel for the screen, but it
appears to have been a futile effort. Remaking an Academy
Award winner is the same as remaking any bona fide classic -- there's only one
way to go and that's down. Zaillian has made a flawed but good film
that's better than 90 percent of the stuff that gets produced nowadays.
It's a story set 70-plus years ago that's still steeped in as much
truth now as it was back then. However, the perceived hubris of
remaking an Oscar-winner combined with having the film's release date postponed
nine months have the majority of critics gunning for this one -- it's already
a big critical disappointment and it's too cynical and intelligent to
connect with most of today's audiences.

Set during the 1930s, the remake stars Sean Penn
as a small-town mayor and door-to-door salesman named Willie Stark, a
character author Warren based on charismatic, tempestuous Louisiana
Governor and Senator Huey Long. Early in the film, Willie gets recruited
by Louisiana political bosses to run for governor as a spoiler in hopes of getting
another man elected. With the help of an equally idealistic young
newspaper reporter, Jack Burden (Jude Law), Willie discovers he's being used
and tears up his scripted speeches to become a firebrand whose
man-of-the-people, anti-elitist rantings immediately strike a chord
with the working class and the poor. Calling himself a hick, Willie
says his mission is to help all the hicks who've long been ignored by their
government. He's a raging Populist whose anger resonates among the common
folk, but quickly makes him enemies among the rich and powerful.

The character with the largest role in the piece is Jack
Burden, the reporter who quits his newspaper job to work for Governor
Willie Stark. It's through Jack's eyes that we see Willie transform
from a well-meaning crusader for the underprivileged into
a ruthless conniver who becomes intoxicated with his own power. What
happens to Willie is not only a common story among politicos from
both sides of the aisle, but the universal story of many a man from all walks
of life whose ego careens out of control once he acquires a certain
level of power. The cynical message of the movie is that it's almost
impossible to become a powerful politician and remain an honest person.

In the role of Willie, Penn once again disappears into character,
but his Southern accent is so thick and so specific that it's difficult to
understand much of his dialogue. A Method actor has gone too far
once his every word can't clearly be understood by the audience. I
appreciate Penn's on-screen intensity, but much prefer Crawford's original
interpretation of Willie Stark.Penn's
and a couple of the other thickly accented performances may benefit from
the option of English subtitles once All
the King's Men reaches DVD, though theater sound systems can
vary.

The remake assembles a terrific supporting
cast which includes James Gandolfini as a veteran Louisiana politico who
becomes Willie's Lieutenant Governor, Patricia Clarkson as Willie's
assistant/mistress, and Kate Winslet and Mark Ruffalo as wealthy childhood
friends of Jack who are eventually used and abused by Willie. But best of
all is Anthony Hopkins, who again steals the show and really makes
you feel for his character in only a few scenes as Judge Irwin.
Definitely deserving of another Best Supporting Actor nomination for his
work here, Hopkins is one of those actors who are so consistently great
that it's sometimes easy to take his greatness for granted. He's truly an
amazing talent.

And in case you can't quite place the skinny, balding guy playing
Willie's quiet bodyguard, that's Jackie Earle Haley, best remembered as the
rebellious, motorcycle-riding Kelly Leak from the Bad News Bears movies of the 1970s.

This new version of All
the King's Men was co-executive produced by Democratic
political consultant turned pundit James Carville. I'm sure Carville's
come across a few Willie Stark's in his day.

Be sure to check out the original 1949 version on standard DVD
from Sony, as reviewed at the following link: